BACK TO REAGANOMICS?

CHINA FIRES WARNING TO NEW U.S. PRESIDENT

Reuters - Jan 9,2001 -- China fired a pre-emptive verbal strike at the incoming George W. Bush administration today, saying the U.S. missile defence proposals that strained bilateral ties last year will have "formidable, adverse global impacts". In a report in the official China Daily published as Bush began following up on campaign pledges to beef up the U.S. military and build a national missile defence system, China also slammed U.S. military alliances and arms sales to Taiwan. Using Chinese codewords for U.S. power such as "hegemony" and "power politics", the report said Washington's military alliances and security policies would trigger an arms
race and jeopardise regional security.

REPUBLICANS PLAN HUGE MISSILE SHIELD

London Guardian - Tue Jan 9,2001 -- George W Bush is preparing to commit billions of extra dollars to develop a more elaborate system of national missile defence (NMD) which is certain to sour relations with Russia, China and Europe, and could bind future administrations to the policy. His plans, which are being
driven by his vice-president, Dick Cheney, and his nominated defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, are likely to dwarf the 100-missile Alaska-based system which was under consideration by the Clinton administration before test failures last summer forced it to pass the issue to its successor's intray.

The scale of the Bush team's thinking began to emerge as the president-elect met congressional leaders in Austin, Texas, yesterday to begin mapping out the Republican legislative programme for defence. His three
principal campaign commitments on defence were raised at the meeting: a $1bn (£668m) pay rise for the armed forces, a $20bn boost for hi-tech weapons research, and the NMD system. "Strengthening the military is one
of my top priorities," Mr Bush said.

BACK